Romans 8:1-4

The Book of Romans is considered to be one of the most difficult bo= oks in the Bible to understand. P= erhaps this is because this wonderful book details the full plan for God’s complete and perfect salvation. Today we are studying= chapter 8, possibly the most profound chapter of Romans.

= = Every believer, after he or she has received the Lord, has a strong desire to please Him. The day we believed into Him we we= re free and joyful. We entered i= nto the realization that our sins were forgiven and the burden of guilt was gone. What a joyous day!=

= = Following our salvation, we began to = read the Bible and listen to messages from godly men. Our desire then, was to obey= the words we heard. The more we t= ried, however, to do the things we knew we should, the more frustrated we became. What happened? The problem was that we fell into = the age-old trap of trying to please God by our “doing” what He said to do.&nb= sp; This is the situation in Romans 7.&= nbsp; Our attempting to keep God’s laws results in failure again and again. This utter failure cau= ses us to cry out, “Wretched man that I am!= Who will deliver me from the body of this death?” (7:24). This was the great Apostle Paul’s experience, an= d this is ours today as well. <= /o:p>

= = Freedom from the vicious cycle of try= ing and defeat comes from knowing that there are different laws at work in our life. There is the law of God= that demands that we be a certain way (vv. 14-16). There is the law of good in our mi= nd that wants to please God by “keeping” His law (vv.21-22). There is the law of sin and death = that is more powerful than the law of good in our mind and always brings us to defeat (vv. 19-23; 8:2b). How= ever, there is another law, the law of the Spirit of life (8:2)—a law so powerful that it overcomes the law of sin and death and fulfills the law of God that we desire to keep. Why then do we still have failure? If the law of the Sp= irit of life is so powerful, then why don’t we live in victory all the tim= e?

To live a life of victory, a life that God intended for us, we need= to know the truth. The Bible = tells us if we know the truth, the truth will set us free (John 8:32). What is the truth? The truth is that there is = now, at this very moment in your life NO condemnation! Why? Because you are in Christ Jesus—this is a fact (v. 1)! Another fact is that, in Christ Jesus, we are free from the law of s= in and death (v.2). The law of s= in and death is now powerless toward us! You see; our hope was in God’s law. But we didn’t realize that God’s law is weak when it comes to our flesh (v.3). Our flesh cannot keep the law. So what did God do? He sent His Son in the “likeness” of the flesh of sin and condemned sin in our flesh (= v. 3). He took care of the sin problem—the weakness problem—the very problem that disabled us = from satisfying God’s righteous demands.&= nbsp; In Christ’s resurrection, the law of the Spirit of life became available to us. This new law= replaced the condemned law of sin and death. Now let’s see how Jesus condemned= sin in the flesh.

= = God sent His Son in the “likeness” of the flesh of sin. Jesus only had the likeness of = the sinful flesh. He had no sin i= n His flesh. A picture of this is i= n Numbers 21:1-9. In this passage God s= ent fiery serpents among his people to bite them because of their rebellion aga= inst Moses. God instructed Moses t= o make a brass serpent that if anyone would repent of their rebellion by looking to the brass serpent, they would live. This is what the likeness of the f= lesh of sin means. Jesus was in the likeness of the brass serpent. He had the “appearance” of the sinful flesh, but did not contain t= he “poison” of the sinful flesh. Thus Jesus was able to condemn si= n in the flesh, freeing us from its power over us.

= = Today, as believers, the righteous requirement of God’s law is fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. When we walk according to the Spir= it in our spirit, God’s righteous law is lived out spontaneously through us. By His life with its abil= ity, we can live a life that fulfills the law of God.